Used to and at NeXT after Jon had left from NeXT. Jon was one of the guys Avie and Steve worked at persuading to come back and help resurrect Apple using NeXT technologies.
He's a very warm, friendly guy. He's just not a dynamic persona that will drive a company via as a leader. He's a great engineer that will drive groups of engineers to produce sound hardware for someone else to market.
The Apollo Hardware at HP has his name all over it.
Except Apple didn't invent touch screens or anything else on the iPhone. The Pre can do all the touch-based interfaces it wants so long as it's not directly copying Apple's patented Multi-Touch, which it isn't.
Frankly, people here should be hoping the Pre is a massive success. It drives competition, forcing better products and lower prices for customers, no matter what product they end up buying. If the Pre and any other phone fails, Apple will have a monopoly on this sort of thing and thus see little reason to improve their products. People moan and complain about Microsoft's monopoly, without realizing that an Apple monopoly is just as bad.
Well-said. I completely agree.
Stiffer competition is better for consumers (in terms of price, innovation, features) and developers (more choice of platforms, companies might be more lenient in order to attract devs).
I disagree. There is really no evidence that Apple's done anything to change their current path. If Palm does influence Apple, we'll see it next year with OS 4.0. If Palm really did scare Apple, we would see a sloppy patchwork for background tasks as was rumored. I don't mind if there is a serious competitor to the iPhone, I do mind that that a company like Palm tries to copy and piggyback Apple + iTunes to the extent that it has.
If you mean that Apple hasn't changed (or changed much) in their course due to back pressure from competitors, I agree.
However, Apple has shifted directions. The App Store, and even opening up the APIs, rehashing the MobileMe Push technology, and even accessory API...these seem to be adjustments.
I think the thing that fascinates me, is when Jobs said at the iPhone 1.0 intro, that iPhone technology is 5 years ahead of the competition. That seems to be holding true, and all of their moves have been to develop the iPhone platform and economy, mopping up the opportunities to set the new paradigms.
Regarding iPhone OS 4, you're right about if they react, but it seems they knew their limitations (we are scaling OS X), and their purchase of PA Semi says they not only anticipated this, but also hope to exceed stock chipsets.
Regarding copying...they seem to have erred by poorly mimicking Apple with an exclusive carrier rollout (but on the wrong network), hype with too little launch inventory (probably because they're cash strapped), even pricing too low to begin their first generation to see substantial profit.
Stiffer competition is better for consumers (in terms of price, innovation, features) and developers (more choice of platforms, companies might be more lenient in order to attract devs).
Quote:
Originally Posted by sennen
nah, i hope that they do ok, it can only mean that the iPhone will have to keep improving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
I truly agree with this. So far, the rest of the 'smart'phones haven't measured up to Apple in any significant way - I think it took Pre to push Apple to focus on making some changes to the iPhone that they could/should have long ago (e.g., c/c/p). Also, Pre seems to be focused on both the software as well as the hardware experience, unlike the others.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quillz
Except Apple didn't invent touch screens or anything else on the iPhone. The Pre can do all the touch-based interfaces it wants so long as it's not directly copying Apple's patented Multi-Touch, which it isn't.
Frankly, people here should be hoping the Pre is a massive success. It drives competition, forcing better products and lower prices for customers, no matter what product they end up buying. If the Pre and any other phone fails, Apple will have a monopoly on this sort of thing and thus see little reason to improve their products. People moan and complain about Microsoft's monopoly, without realizing that an Apple monopoly is just as bad.
Hey, doesn't the iPhone/smartphone monopoly argument have a fallacy that if Apple becomes a monopoly, they must become lazy and lack innovation? And doesn't the laziness and lack of innovation end up permitting the monopoly to be dethroned? And doesn't history include a handful of rather extended monopolies because they didn't become lazy (I can think of a company that made pipe-bending equipment that obsoleted themselves because their products rarely failed and they saturated their own market).
Apple has competition, but is operating more like a company in a solo land grab, staking out new territories with each OS update. Regarding getting lazy, they won't? Because they will likely always be a upper premium margin product company, and innovation is in their blood. The iPod (non-touch) is perhaps an example of why a monopoly won't make them lazy. I'd bet Apple would sell off or drop out of the iPod (non-touch) market if the margins and market share couldn't be sustained.
Laziness is still possible, and maybe even likely. But if any company can keep innovating, it's Apple. At least in my lifetime!
@anantksundaram - good observation about sw/hw balance on Pre. But it's still potential until they attract devs, and solidify their dev kit.
@ all...
Competition can be a good thing, but it can also be a distorting thing. I'd rather Apple listen to customers while protecting and designing the iPhone ecosystem well, than set their bar relative according to the competition/marketing ala M$.
Except Apple didn't invent touch screens or anything else on the iPhone. The Pre can do all the touch-based interfaces it wants so long as it's not directly copying Apple's patented Multi-Touch, which it isn't.
Frankly, people here should be hoping the Pre is a massive success. It drives competition, forcing better products and lower prices for customers, no matter what product they end up buying. If the Pre and any other phone fails, Apple will have a monopoly on this sort of thing and thus see little reason to improve their products. People moan and complain about Microsoft's monopoly, without realizing that an Apple monopoly is just as bad.
Ah but see, the multi-touch patent itself is in question. Those guys from fingerworks (John Elias and Wayne Westerman) may not be really the true owners of the patent and with Apple's acquisition of them neither would be Apple.
The University of Delaware may be the true owners of multi-touch and that is why you won't see Apple bring a case against anybody.
Used to and at NeXT after Jon had left from NeXT. Jon was one of the guys Avie and Steve worked at persuading to come back and help resurrect Apple using NeXT technologies.
He's a very warm, friendly guy. He's just not a dynamic persona that will drive a company via as a leader. He's a great engineer that will drive groups of engineers to produce sound hardware for someone else to market.
The Apollo Hardware at HP has his name all over it.
These tech news columns should be embarrassed for so easily swallowing and regurgitating Palm's fuzzy math of $199-with-a-2yr-contract-after-a-rebate b.s.
The only way you walk away with a Pre for $199 is by shopping at Best Buy which doesn't have any in-stock anyway. AND BTW - this is the listing for the Pre on the Best Buy website...
With any job, you do work, you gain experience through accomplishments, you list such things on your resume, and it helps you move on to a higher paying job.
They're gonna be sorry when they realize Jobs installed a kill switch in Rubenstein, back when he was at Apple.
It's all "Hey, that's great, new opportunities, you go get 'em!" until they start to compete with Apple, then Boom! Aneurism.
But what if Ruby predicted that and retaliated with a little farewell Trojan left with good ole SJ? Palm comes out with Pre details - BOOM!, Stevie goes sabatical.
I'm not surprised. Jon probably made this deal when he first signed with Palm. Chances are Palm will fall flat on its face. Microsoft would not buy Palm because they're about to release WM7 next year. RIM won't buy them because they have no reason to. The people that buy BB's are not interested in pretty interfaces but email and encryption. Dell could buy them, but why? They would be far more successful in using Android or WM. Palm will not be around in five years. Everyone will have copied the best of their OS and not have to buy them out.
I can't wait for the day when Palm goes under and Rubenstein is looking for a job elsewhere and he doesn't have any more Apple ideas to peddle. Suck it, Jon!
Wow this guy doesn't get out much does he? You do realize that pre has already out sold every other phone released on sprint and Tmobile in its first day and weekend sales.... The pre is going to be on verizon and AT&T by february and another WebOS device called EOS will be out on AT&T by end of the year. This will surely outSell any other smart phone at that point except maybe the iphone... And just because it might not outsell the iphone doesn't mean Palm isn't making huge prodits off it. Palm will still be here for a long time, jon rub said WebOS is their new mobile OS for the next 10 years.... So wish away but prepare to be let down.
Wow this guy doesn't get out much does he? You do realize that pre has already out sold every other phone released on sprint and Tmobile in its first day and weekend sales.... The pre is going to be on verizon and AT&T by february and another WebOS device called EOS will be out on AT&T by end of the year. This will surely outSell any other smart phone at that point except maybe the iphone... And just because it might not outsell the iphone doesn't mean Palm isn't making huge prodits off it. Palm will still be here for a long time, jon rub said WebOS is their new mobile OS for the next 10 years.... So wish away but prepare to be let down.
I?m glad that they sold out and hope that Palm will stick around but it?s too early to tell at this point if the Palm Pre and WebOS are a true success at this point. People have 30 days to test the device and we know from the BB Storm that the returns were up to 40%. I doubt that the Palm Pre will suffer that same fate but if they do it may not be something Palm can easily weather like RiM can.
I?m glad that they sold out and hope that Palm will stick around but it?s too early to tell at this point if the Palm Pre and WebOS are a true success at this point. People have 30 days to test the device and we know from the BB Storm that the returns were up to 40%. I doubt that the Palm Pre will suffer that same fate but if they do it may not be something Palm can easily weather like RiM can.
One thing they could consider stopping is the rampant jerking of developer's chains they are doing. Palm promised an SDK for their OS, and has continued promising it, for quite some time now. The only thing reliable about that promise so far, however, has been the unreliability of the dates they announce. They announced that it would be available in April, but instead what we got was an early release program, where the OS was made available to the very few developers Palm hand picked. Developers were invited to apply, but Palm has rarely replied. Palm said the SDK would be freely available around launch, but of course it is still MIA. So far, about the only thing accurate in what Palm has said about their SDK is that it exists. They said it would be free for download soon, but again, MIA. The device has something like 30 apps, many of which are reported to 'suck'. The developer situation with Pre is beyond ridiculous, and has rolled right on around into amazing... but not in a good way.
Knowing what I know, and having witnessed the bizarre approach / avoidance Palm has been demonstrating about developing for this device, it doesn't look too good right now. If I had one of these devices, and I visited their anemic app store... I would return it, too.
WebOS certainly looks slick, but the way Palm is behaving about developing for their platform makes me very skeptical about how far this ball will roll. If the way Apple handles developers could be considered "welcoming", then the way Palm has managed it so far could best be described as schizophrenic.
A good move for Palm. I think Palm is definitely heading towards the right direction with the webOS, though I really think Palm will be doomed if they still consider a pure touchscreen phone as some sort of niche product. Unfortunately, Jon Rubinstein doesn't seem to like software keyboards at all. It will be very unfortunate if Palm is like those bunch of other old schools who cannnot adjust themselves to new technology like the software keyboard, which is obviously advantageous.
I haven't seen any cell phone makers like Palm to be stupid enough to mock iPhone's software keyboard.
One thing they could consider stopping is the rampant jerking of developer's chains they are doing. Palm promised an SDK for their OS, and has continued promising it, for quite some time now. The only thing reliable about that promise so far, however, has been the unreliability of the dates they announce. They announced that it would be available in April, but instead what we got was an early release program, where the OS was made available to the very few developers Palm hand picked. Developers were invited to apply, but Palm has rarely replied. Palm said the SDK would be freely available around launch, but of course it is still MIA. So far, about the only thing accurate in what Palm has said about their SDK is that it exists. They said it would be free for download soon, but again, MIA. The device has something like 30 apps, many of which are reported to 'suck'. The developer situation with Pre is beyond ridiculous, and has rolled right on around into amazing... but not in a good way.
Knowing what I know, and having witnessed the bizarre approach / avoidance Palm has been demonstrating about developing for this device, it doesn't look too good right now. If I had one of these devices, and I visited their anemic app store... I would return it, too.
WebOS certainly looks slick, but the way Palm is behaving about developing for their platform makes me very skeptical about how far this ball will roll. If the way Apple handles developers could be considered "welcoming", then the way Palm has managed it so far could best be described as schizophrenic.
Palm obviously thought they could do more than they could in that short time frame, despite have an OS and SDK based on HTML5 and other open web standards. Personally, I think they did themselves a disfavour by releasing the device so close to the expected iPhone announcement. IF they had a month or more of Palm Pre v. iPhone 3, before we knew about the iPhone 3GS it would have made them look better. If they refined their device more with a public SDK that allowed for hundreds, if not thousands, of 3rd-party apps ready at launch they would have looked golden compared to the original iPhone launch which had no SDK. All the initial concepts they did were great for competing with the iPhone but this execution was less impressive. I hope they pull off and think they still have a chance to save their company.
This is great news for Palm, Apple, and the marketplace. Competition among adroit players -- which Palm was not until the Pre's launch -- will fuel innovation. The iPhone ate its copycats for dinner. The Pre is not a "me, too" device. It's a variation (and, in a few ways, improvement) on a theme. The marketplace has a lot of room for variety. This mindset of "X is an iPhone killer!" and "iPhone will always triumph" are the calls of fanboys and the ignorant.
Speaking of the ignorant:
Quote:
Rubinstein will replace Ed Colligan, who is stepping down after sixteen years of leadership at the company.
Feel free to place the word leadership in quotes. Ed, thanks for ruining the company and my IRA for the past decade and a half.
Comments
You work at Apple?
Used to and at NeXT after Jon had left from NeXT. Jon was one of the guys Avie and Steve worked at persuading to come back and help resurrect Apple using NeXT technologies.
He's a very warm, friendly guy. He's just not a dynamic persona that will drive a company via as a leader. He's a great engineer that will drive groups of engineers to produce sound hardware for someone else to market.
The Apollo Hardware at HP has his name all over it.
Except Apple didn't invent touch screens or anything else on the iPhone. The Pre can do all the touch-based interfaces it wants so long as it's not directly copying Apple's patented Multi-Touch, which it isn't.
Frankly, people here should be hoping the Pre is a massive success. It drives competition, forcing better products and lower prices for customers, no matter what product they end up buying. If the Pre and any other phone fails, Apple will have a monopoly on this sort of thing and thus see little reason to improve their products. People moan and complain about Microsoft's monopoly, without realizing that an Apple monopoly is just as bad.
Well-said. I completely agree.
Stiffer competition is better for consumers (in terms of price, innovation, features) and developers (more choice of platforms, companies might be more lenient in order to attract devs).
I disagree. There is really no evidence that Apple's done anything to change their current path. If Palm does influence Apple, we'll see it next year with OS 4.0. If Palm really did scare Apple, we would see a sloppy patchwork for background tasks as was rumored. I don't mind if there is a serious competitor to the iPhone, I do mind that that a company like Palm tries to copy and piggyback Apple + iTunes to the extent that it has.
If you mean that Apple hasn't changed (or changed much) in their course due to back pressure from competitors, I agree.
However, Apple has shifted directions. The App Store, and even opening up the APIs, rehashing the MobileMe Push technology, and even accessory API...these seem to be adjustments.
I think the thing that fascinates me, is when Jobs said at the iPhone 1.0 intro, that iPhone technology is 5 years ahead of the competition. That seems to be holding true, and all of their moves have been to develop the iPhone platform and economy, mopping up the opportunities to set the new paradigms.
Regarding iPhone OS 4, you're right about if they react, but it seems they knew their limitations (we are scaling OS X), and their purchase of PA Semi says they not only anticipated this, but also hope to exceed stock chipsets.
Regarding copying...they seem to have erred by poorly mimicking Apple with an exclusive carrier rollout (but on the wrong network), hype with too little launch inventory (probably because they're cash strapped), even pricing too low to begin their first generation to see substantial profit.
Thanks for your stimulating post!
Well-said. I completely agree.
Stiffer competition is better for consumers (in terms of price, innovation, features) and developers (more choice of platforms, companies might be more lenient in order to attract devs).
nah, i hope that they do ok, it can only mean that the iPhone will have to keep improving.
I truly agree with this. So far, the rest of the 'smart'phones haven't measured up to Apple in any significant way - I think it took Pre to push Apple to focus on making some changes to the iPhone that they could/should have long ago (e.g., c/c/p). Also, Pre seems to be focused on both the software as well as the hardware experience, unlike the others.
Except Apple didn't invent touch screens or anything else on the iPhone. The Pre can do all the touch-based interfaces it wants so long as it's not directly copying Apple's patented Multi-Touch, which it isn't.
Frankly, people here should be hoping the Pre is a massive success. It drives competition, forcing better products and lower prices for customers, no matter what product they end up buying. If the Pre and any other phone fails, Apple will have a monopoly on this sort of thing and thus see little reason to improve their products. People moan and complain about Microsoft's monopoly, without realizing that an Apple monopoly is just as bad.
Hey, doesn't the iPhone/smartphone monopoly argument have a fallacy that if Apple becomes a monopoly, they must become lazy and lack innovation? And doesn't the laziness and lack of innovation end up permitting the monopoly to be dethroned? And doesn't history include a handful of rather extended monopolies because they didn't become lazy (I can think of a company that made pipe-bending equipment that obsoleted themselves because their products rarely failed and they saturated their own market).
Apple has competition, but is operating more like a company in a solo land grab, staking out new territories with each OS update. Regarding getting lazy, they won't? Because they will likely always be a upper premium margin product company, and innovation is in their blood. The iPod (non-touch) is perhaps an example of why a monopoly won't make them lazy. I'd bet Apple would sell off or drop out of the iPod (non-touch) market if the margins and market share couldn't be sustained.
Laziness is still possible, and maybe even likely. But if any company can keep innovating, it's Apple. At least in my lifetime!
@anantksundaram - good observation about sw/hw balance on Pre. But it's still potential until they attract devs, and solidify their dev kit.
@ all...
Competition can be a good thing, but it can also be a distorting thing. I'd rather Apple listen to customers while protecting and designing the iPhone ecosystem well, than set their bar relative according to the competition/marketing ala M$.
Benedict Arnold.
Are you serious?
He's an old NeXT guy that was in the trenches with John Connor...er Steve Jobs.
How dare you try to compare Steve Jobs to John Connor!
Except Apple didn't invent touch screens or anything else on the iPhone. The Pre can do all the touch-based interfaces it wants so long as it's not directly copying Apple's patented Multi-Touch, which it isn't.
Frankly, people here should be hoping the Pre is a massive success. It drives competition, forcing better products and lower prices for customers, no matter what product they end up buying. If the Pre and any other phone fails, Apple will have a monopoly on this sort of thing and thus see little reason to improve their products. People moan and complain about Microsoft's monopoly, without realizing that an Apple monopoly is just as bad.
Ah but see, the multi-touch patent itself is in question. Those guys from fingerworks (John Elias and Wayne Westerman) may not be really the true owners of the patent and with Apple's acquisition of them neither would be Apple.
The University of Delaware may be the true owners of multi-touch and that is why you won't see Apple bring a case against anybody.
Used to and at NeXT after Jon had left from NeXT. Jon was one of the guys Avie and Steve worked at persuading to come back and help resurrect Apple using NeXT technologies.
He's a very warm, friendly guy. He's just not a dynamic persona that will drive a company via as a leader. He's a great engineer that will drive groups of engineers to produce sound hardware for someone else to market.
The Apollo Hardware at HP has his name all over it.
Thanks for the info.
These tech news columns should be embarrassed for so easily swallowing and regurgitating Palm's fuzzy math of $199-with-a-2yr-contract-after-a-rebate b.s.
The only way you walk away with a Pre for $199 is by shopping at Best Buy which doesn't have any in-stock anyway. AND BTW - this is the listing for the Pre on the Best Buy website...
So who cares about this? lol
They're gonna be sorry when they realize Jobs installed a kill switch in Rubenstein, back when he was at Apple.
It's all "Hey, that's great, new opportunities, you go get 'em!" until they start to compete with Apple, then Boom! Aneurism.
But what if Ruby predicted that and retaliated with a little farewell Trojan left with good ole SJ? Palm comes out with Pre details - BOOM!, Stevie goes sabatical.
I'm not surprised. Jon probably made this deal when he first signed with Palm. Chances are Palm will fall flat on its face. Microsoft would not buy Palm because they're about to release WM7 next year. RIM won't buy them because they have no reason to. The people that buy BB's are not interested in pretty interfaces but email and encryption. Dell could buy them, but why? They would be far more successful in using Android or WM. Palm will not be around in five years. Everyone will have copied the best of their OS and not have to buy them out.
I can't wait for the day when Palm goes under and Rubenstein is looking for a job elsewhere and he doesn't have any more Apple ideas to peddle. Suck it, Jon!
Wow this guy doesn't get out much does he? You do realize that pre has already out sold every other phone released on sprint and Tmobile in its first day and weekend sales.... The pre is going to be on verizon and AT&T by february and another WebOS device called EOS will be out on AT&T by end of the year. This will surely outSell any other smart phone at that point except maybe the iphone... And just because it might not outsell the iphone doesn't mean Palm isn't making huge prodits off it. Palm will still be here for a long time, jon rub said WebOS is their new mobile OS for the next 10 years.... So wish away but prepare to be let down.
Wow this guy doesn't get out much does he? You do realize that pre has already out sold every other phone released on sprint and Tmobile in its first day and weekend sales.... The pre is going to be on verizon and AT&T by february and another WebOS device called EOS will be out on AT&T by end of the year. This will surely outSell any other smart phone at that point except maybe the iphone... And just because it might not outsell the iphone doesn't mean Palm isn't making huge prodits off it. Palm will still be here for a long time, jon rub said WebOS is their new mobile OS for the next 10 years.... So wish away but prepare to be let down.
I?m glad that they sold out and hope that Palm will stick around but it?s too early to tell at this point if the Palm Pre and WebOS are a true success at this point. People have 30 days to test the device and we know from the BB Storm that the returns were up to 40%. I doubt that the Palm Pre will suffer that same fate but if they do it may not be something Palm can easily weather like RiM can.
I?m glad that they sold out and hope that Palm will stick around but it?s too early to tell at this point if the Palm Pre and WebOS are a true success at this point. People have 30 days to test the device and we know from the BB Storm that the returns were up to 40%. I doubt that the Palm Pre will suffer that same fate but if they do it may not be something Palm can easily weather like RiM can.
One thing they could consider stopping is the rampant jerking of developer's chains they are doing. Palm promised an SDK for their OS, and has continued promising it, for quite some time now. The only thing reliable about that promise so far, however, has been the unreliability of the dates they announce. They announced that it would be available in April, but instead what we got was an early release program, where the OS was made available to the very few developers Palm hand picked. Developers were invited to apply, but Palm has rarely replied. Palm said the SDK would be freely available around launch, but of course it is still MIA. So far, about the only thing accurate in what Palm has said about their SDK is that it exists. They said it would be free for download soon, but again, MIA. The device has something like 30 apps, many of which are reported to 'suck'. The developer situation with Pre is beyond ridiculous, and has rolled right on around into amazing... but not in a good way.
Knowing what I know, and having witnessed the bizarre approach / avoidance Palm has been demonstrating about developing for this device, it doesn't look too good right now. If I had one of these devices, and I visited their anemic app store... I would return it, too.
WebOS certainly looks slick, but the way Palm is behaving about developing for their platform makes me very skeptical about how far this ball will roll. If the way Apple handles developers could be considered "welcoming", then the way Palm has managed it so far could best be described as schizophrenic.
I haven't seen any cell phone makers like Palm to be stupid enough to mock iPhone's software keyboard.
One thing they could consider stopping is the rampant jerking of developer's chains they are doing. Palm promised an SDK for their OS, and has continued promising it, for quite some time now. The only thing reliable about that promise so far, however, has been the unreliability of the dates they announce. They announced that it would be available in April, but instead what we got was an early release program, where the OS was made available to the very few developers Palm hand picked. Developers were invited to apply, but Palm has rarely replied. Palm said the SDK would be freely available around launch, but of course it is still MIA. So far, about the only thing accurate in what Palm has said about their SDK is that it exists. They said it would be free for download soon, but again, MIA. The device has something like 30 apps, many of which are reported to 'suck'. The developer situation with Pre is beyond ridiculous, and has rolled right on around into amazing... but not in a good way.
Knowing what I know, and having witnessed the bizarre approach / avoidance Palm has been demonstrating about developing for this device, it doesn't look too good right now. If I had one of these devices, and I visited their anemic app store... I would return it, too.
WebOS certainly looks slick, but the way Palm is behaving about developing for their platform makes me very skeptical about how far this ball will roll. If the way Apple handles developers could be considered "welcoming", then the way Palm has managed it so far could best be described as schizophrenic.
Palm obviously thought they could do more than they could in that short time frame, despite have an OS and SDK based on HTML5 and other open web standards. Personally, I think they did themselves a disfavour by releasing the device so close to the expected iPhone announcement. IF they had a month or more of Palm Pre v. iPhone 3, before we knew about the iPhone 3GS it would have made them look better. If they refined their device more with a public SDK that allowed for hundreds, if not thousands, of 3rd-party apps ready at launch they would have looked golden compared to the original iPhone launch which had no SDK. All the initial concepts they did were great for competing with the iPhone but this execution was less impressive. I hope they pull off and think they still have a chance to save their company.
During his year's at Apple, Rubinstein was also responsible from some industrial design, low-level software and iPod accessory development.
For the love of Christ -- someone fix that damn apostrophe! Doesn't anyone proof read any more?
Cheers
Jim
Speaking of the ignorant:
Rubinstein will replace Ed Colligan, who is stepping down after sixteen years of leadership at the company.
Feel free to place the word leadership in quotes. Ed, thanks for ruining the company and my IRA for the past decade and a half.